LOL: My talent is top-tier, my professional skills are unparalleled.

Chapter 71 The Shocking Swing!
“EDG will take down Luo first, breaking up the Phoenix Legend duo,” PDD said thoughtfully.

Rakan is a very strong support, but not strong enough to be picked as a first pick. If you can pick him as a first pick, it's actually better to choose Janna.

But for the red side, Rakan is pretty good. If you don't ban Xayah, I'll take both Xayah and Rakan. If you ban Xayah, I'll take Rakan.

As the only support champion in the current version with both initiation and Ardent Censer attributes, if your team doesn't plan to pick Rakan, then you absolutely cannot let someone else get him.

"Samsung has no problem with their first ban; they'll give it to Kalista, which is a standard ban for the red side."

"EDG's second ban was Taliyah, a mid-lane champion that Crown has been using recently. SSG responded by banning Rumble."

CuVee is a low-key but skilled top laner, but he lacks a certain amount of champion pool, which is similar to Mouse.

Both players are only good at a few specific heroes, so targeting EDG's top laner might be a good way to break the deadlock.

"For the third ban, EDG blocked Galio, continuing to target Crown's champion pool, while Samsung countered by banning Janna."

The two sides went head-to-head in the ban/pick phase. After the first round of bans, the blue team decisively picked Tristana on the first floor!

First pick Tristana, this is also the most popular AD carry choice after the World Championship version update!

In the current version, there are essentially two choices for the bot lane: one is to play Kog'Maw or Varus, marksmen with attack speed boosts that start to exert their power in the mid-game when combined with Ardent Censer.

Kog'Maw has armor shreds, and Varus has percentage-based damage; both are quite effective at dealing with tanks.

The remaining options are traditional crit-based AD carries like Twitch and Caitlyn, who become fully developed after acquiring three core items. Therefore, many teams choose to pick Caitlyn during the group stage.

As for Draven, this kind of unconventional, high-damage ADC, only Wang Yao has used it in the group stage so far.

Other teams wouldn't dare to be so careless.

EDG picked Tristana first because they valued her excellent late-game scaling.

The current version of Tristana has a late-game range of up to 669 points, which is even more exaggerated than Caitlyn's long range!
Both being AD champions focused on critical strikes, Tristana has an attack speed boost from her Q skill, making her burst damage superior to Caitlyn's in early-game skirmishes.

In addition, Tristana has the ultimate R skill for survival, making her both offensive and defensive. In team fights, her W skill refreshes, allowing her to jump around freely. Therefore, Tristana is a higher priority than Caitlyn.

Compared to pushing towers, Tristana's E skill, which applies bombs, makes her tower-pushing speed just as fast as Caitlyn's.

Therefore, most of the coaching staff unanimously agreed that Xiao Pao was the perfect replacement for the female police officer, and there was no reason not to pick her up if she was left outside.

EDG's decision to pick the AD carry first also demonstrates their trust in Wang Yao.

"Let's see what combination Samsung will come up with to counter EDG's Tristana."

PDD rubbed his chin and guessed, "They might build mid and support first."

There are still many ADC options available, so there's no need to pick one so early. However, mid laners and supports are in short supply.

EDG banned quite a few mid-laners in the first round of the draft, mainly targeting Crown.

Soon, SSG secured Lulu and Sejuani on the first and second floors, a strong jungle and support duo in the current meta.

"Oh? Samsung hasn't rushed to get a mid laner yet, looks like they came prepared."

EDG's bot lane picks are actually quite difficult to choose, since Janna and Rakan have been banned, leaving only a few Ardent Censer-themed champions.

After much deliberation, PDD concluded that EDG could only pick Karma or Taric, at least to provide Tristana and the jungler with initiation control.

The problem is that Taric and Tristana's laning strength is really weak. Their range isn't long in the early game, making it difficult for them to gain lane priority against Lulu. If EDG doesn't want to lose lane priority in the bot lane, they can only pair them with Karma to complement Tristana.

This is also one of EDG's commonly used tactics: giving the bottom lane a strong lane combination, forcing the opposing jungler to lock down the bottom half of the map, which gives Clearlove more tactical options.

Whether it's breaking through the opponent's top lane or coordinating with their junior teammate in the mid-jungle, EDG has many options.

As expected, just as PDD predicted, EDG locked in Karma and Jarvan IV on the second and third floors.

Meanwhile, SSG on the third floor countered by taking down Xayah.

Ruler is quite confident in his Kasumi.

When both sides entered the second round of ban/pick, neither of them had made a selection for their mid or top lane.

At this point, you can only rely on your hero pool!
Samsung banned Scout's Syndra and Orianna, and Scout's two balls and one hero are his usual mid lane champions. SSG is clearly targeting EDG's mid and top laners this game.

EDG showed no mercy, swiftly banning Crown's Malzahar and Ryze.

In the second round of bans, both sides banned almost all the mid-lane champions that the other side knew and that were popular in the current version!
The commentators on stage were completely dumbfounded.

What other heroes can be picked for the mid lane this game?

Taliyah, Galio, Malzahar, Orianna, Syndra, and Ryze—six mid-lane champions were all banned, and these are the AP mages with the highest error rate in the mid-lane this year.

We can't expect a junior player to pick Lucian in the mid lane right now, can we? That would be like going back to the Summer Split!

Soon, Samsung's fourth floor gave their answer, choosing Ice Maiden for Crown Bro.

"Ice Maiden? That hero hasn't appeared in a long time." Miller was surprised.

"The main problem is that there aren't many mid-lane champions left to choose from this game. We can't let them pick mage assassins, and frankly, LeBlanc isn't very effective right now."

PDD pondered for a moment, "EDG could pick Lucian, but they basically didn't use this champion in the group stage, so they probably won't pick it again."

Here, EDG placed Gnar on the fourth floor for A Guang, but Maokai, EDG's expected star top laner, did not appear.

"Are they really going to build Lucian in the mid lane? Wouldn't that turn EDG into a pure melee team?"

Before Miller's questioning could even subside, PDD, standing to the side, suddenly raised his voice and exclaimed in confusion, "Huh?"

Because Meiko was the fifth support pick for EDG, he immediately picked Leona!
When the Sun Maiden appeared, wielding a sword in one hand and a giant shield in the other, the entire audience erupted in cheers.

No one expected EDG to pick Leona for the bot lane at this time!
"Sun Maiden? Isn't that the same strategy the Rabbits used in the group stage? But they lost back then!"

This year's World Championship wasn't without its unconventional strategies and tricks; the Rabbit team once played Leona and had Blitzcrank in the bottom lane.

They were indeed very strong in the early game, but in the mid-to-late game, due to the difference in team fight capabilities between the two sides, the Rabbit team still couldn't get past SKT and WE.

The combination of the Japanese heroine and the robot has become a useless strategy that has been despised by many teams.

EDG pulled such a big move in their first match of the quarterfinals, delivering a heavy blow to the fragile hearts of all the viewers!
With Tristana paired with Leona and Karma flexing to the mid lane, this EDG team is incredibly daring with their picks!

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(End of this chapter)